How big of a role is Doctor Strange going to play in Avengers: Infinity War?

The hints keep coming that Doctor Strange might play a pivotal role in Avengers: Infinity War, so let’s guess at how big it is.

Doctor Strange didn’t gross the most of the debut movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Actually, if you look closely, it’s not even in the top 10. But there are a couple hints that show the character might become more and more pivotal.

We credit CBR with this find.

So, who’s going to make a house call to Stephen Strange this time? Because his Sanctum Sanctorum is going to be in Avengers: Infinity War.

As CBR notes, those are the Russo brothers in the picture with Scott Derrickson.

Now, just having the Sanctum Santorum in Infinity War doesn’t mean much. As things stand, Stephen Strange doesn’t have that much of a connection to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, mostly because he actually had to become a sorcerer first. He does, however, have ties to one character: Thor, thanks to that post-credits scene. In fact, the whole point of that post-credits scene, according to the below featurette, was to link the two together:

And, funnily enough, Thor’s next movie, Thor: Ragnarok is supposed to lead into Infinity War, with Doctor Strange also set to appear in the movie. All of this suggests that Strange is going to emerge as a bigger character as the cinematic universe continues on.

That makes quite a bit of sense. Right now, we’re not sure if Chris Evans wants to be Steve Rogers anymore. Robert Downey Jr. only has a few more movies left on his contract, as well, and as far as we know, they’re all spoken for, according to ScreenRant’s list. As those two actors just had a big movie last year in which they opposed each other, it’s easy to say they are pretty key to the franchise.

Marvel Studios now has a popular actor in Benedict Cumberbatch on its hands, even if his American accent is a little spotty here and there. Why not propel him to a bigger position in the franchise as things continue to expand?

Next: Spider-Man: Homecoming has two sequels on the way

Keep an eye on how much we hear about Cumberbatch’s involvement in Infinity War, because it could clue us in to how much we’ll be seeing of his magic going forward.